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One of the greatest football players ever is revealing details about his health issues hoping to help others.
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Barry Sanders, who has a case as the top running back to play the game and was a no-doubt Hall of Fame pick after starring for the Detroit Lions, is shedding some light on the “health scare” he said he went through last June.
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Sanders 56, told CBS Sports he had a heart attack while attending a recruiting visit for his son.
“I couldn’t believe it, honestly,” Sanders told CBS. “I thought it was like heartburn, but it just kind of persisted.”
Sanders went over the whole experience in “The Making of a Heart Attack,” which will premier on Saturday, June 14 at 1 p.m. on A&E.
He said the day started with a burning sensation in his chest, but he still went on the visit. Only later would Sanders visit a hospital. Tests found that he’d suffered a heart attack.
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“Of all things, I don’t know why, that just never entered my mind,” Sanders said. “I’m learning through this process that there aren’t necessarily any warning signs, unless you do what we’re encouraging people to do, which is to go the doctor, get tested for LDLC levels, or bad cholesterol. That’s the only way to find out if you have high cholesterol. It’s not something you’re going to be able to feel. You don’t have to fit a certain physical profile.”
Sanders and four other people who have had heart attacks are featured in the show. He said it was eye opening how prevalent heart attacks are.
Sanders said he’s feeling good now and is taking medications and has made dietary changes and is walking more.
“It’s definitely made me healthier and happier,” Sanders said. “Being the kind of athlete that I was, I would see people walking and I would wonder, like, ‘What kind of workout is that?’ But there’s a thing called a heart healthy workout, where you’re just getting your heart rate up a little bit over a certain period of time, and that’s just really good for your heart. There was just a certain ignorance that I had about things like that. But all of it has been a learning process.”
He added all of the support he’s received from fans has “meant a lot to me.”
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